Dear Life
by Starving For Attention
Summary: [DracoHermione] “Don’t make me say it. It’ll ruin my bad boy image,” he whispered jokingly in her ear. She giggled softly, glancing up at him with big brown doe eyes. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”


**So this takes place during the sixth book sometime.**

**Beware of fluffiness. It's taking over the world.**

**Enjoy, and please review afterwards.**

**You should also know by now that if I owned Harry Potter, I would be rich, famous, and Dumbledore wouldn't have kicked the bucket. But I'm not, and he did anyway.**

Harry Potter's head snapped up from its previous position on the questionably clean Potion's desk as a crumpled-up piece of parchment hit his forehead. Looking around irritably, he tried to find the origin of his almost-sleep disturber, his search immediately coming to a halt as his green eyes locked with a pair of beady grey ones, shielded slightly by a curtain of platinum blonde hair, already staring smugly in Harry's general direction. Malfoy.

Rolling his eyes, Harry opened up the parchment and flattened it out, trying to read the slightly smudged handwriting. _Sorry__ for hitting you, Potty. Give this to Granger. _Raising a singular eyebrow, he elbowed Hermione softly, drawing her attention away from the bubbling lavender potion that sat on the table between them. "What?" she snapped sharply, her brown eyes flickering anxiously from the Harry to their cauldron and back again. Harry handed her the paper, shrugging disinterestedly as he whispered, "From Malfoy," before turning his attention half-heartedly to the potion his counterpart had just been working on, which had now turned a deep licorice-like purple.

Skim-reading the scribbled sentence, Hermione picked up her quill and dipped it in her open ink bottle before writing a hurried _What do you want? _She gathered the paper into another careless ball, glancing quickly at Slughorn - who had his back to the class as he waved his wand over the chalkboard, conjuring the concluding steps to the potion the class was engrossed in making - before tossing it back to Malfoy. It landed directly in his lap and he flashed her a smirk before opening the note and quickly reading her reply.

"What does he want?" Harry asked quietly, gazing quizzically at her through his coke-bottle glasses.

"Who knows? Probably wants answers for Snape's homework or some rubbish," Hermione muttered as began stirring the potion once again. But she froze in surprise as the paper - this time folded artistically into the shape of a bird - floated onto the space of empty desk in front of her. She handed the ladle to Harry, who still looked slightly glassy-eyed from being rudely awakened from his near slumber. "Here, you stir. Three times clockwise, four times counterclockwise."

Carefully unfolding the parchment, Hermione stole a glance at Harry out of the corner of her eye. He was engrossed in the stirring of their potion, which had now turned jet black, and she breathed a small sigh of relief before fully opening the note, her face scrunching into a look of confusion as she read what he had written.

_Rencontrez-moi à la tour d'astronomie pendant le déjeuner. Assurez-vous que vous êtes seul._

She lifted her head and sought out Malfoy, who had his head angled inconspicuously in the direction of her table, eyeing her expectantly. _You speak french? _she mouthed, giving him a look of astonishment. He just flashed her a small smile, a playful glint in his eye. She shook her head softly before stuffing the note into her robes' pocket and turning back to the potion Harry was staring at, a small smile on her face.

xxx

Hermione raced up the stairs as fast as she could, leaving behind a very puzzled Harry and Ron with a rushed excuse having something to do with extra study time. Skidding to a halt in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, she hurriedly said the password and ran inside, throwing her book bag down on the floor next to a far window and sprinting out as quickly as she had come in.

Racing up four more flights of stairs in record time, Hermione slowed down as the door to the Astronomy Tower came into clear sight. As she approached the door, her breathing - which had regulated a few seconds earlier - began to quicken once again. Her heart pounded a bit harder than usual, and she found herself wondering, _Why am I so nervous? _Gripping the door handle tightly, she swung it open, inhaling sharply as a rush of cold air hit her unexpectedly. She moved forward, letting the door blow closed on its own as she stared out at the seemingly endless school grounds. Gasping as a pair of hands grabbed her waist from behind, she found herself being spun around to face the concrete wall, the hands snaking around her stomach. "What took you so long?" a deep voice growled into her ear. Hermione shivered slightly as she felt his breath on her neck, and turned her head slightly until her eyes met those of Draco Malfoy.

She turned around in his arms until they were face to face, his hands now on the small of her back. She opened her mouth to answer him, but he left no time for her to answer, because before she could get a sound out, he lowered his mouth to hers in a passionate kiss. His hands roamed up and down her sides before coming to a rest at her hips, while hers raked through his platinum blonde hair, one hand moving down to the middle of his back, pushing him flush against her, while the other came to a stop at the nape of his neck. Draco pulled back suddenly, breaking the kiss, a mischievous glint in his usually icy grey eyes. "You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't exactly give me a chance to," Hermione replied, raising an eyebrow at the satisfied smirk currently plastered on his face. "And for your information, I had to help clean up. See, when some of us go to class, we do this thing called _work. _Although you're probably not very familiar with that term," she added jokingly.

"Oh, please. I am perfectly capable of doing work when I want to– "

Which is usually never," she interjected, smiling softly.

"Well if they decide to teach us something useful instead of this rubbish we've been learning lately, I might change my mind, but as of right now I'd rather catch up on my beauty sleep than waste my time in class," Draco replied matter-of-factly.

"You're plenty beautiful, pumpkin," she said in an over-exaggerated cutesy voice, moving her hand from the back of his head to lightly smack his cheek playfully a few times for emphasis. He rolled his eyes at her antics.

"Hmm. Tell me again why I like you so much?"

Hermione laughed lightly. "Well, you know, there are so many reasons, it's hard to keep track of them all. I believe a few were... intelligent, hilarious, incredibly stunningly gorgeous–"

"Oh that's right. I remember now." He grinned teasingly, grabbing a small strand of her hair and twirling it with his index finger absently.

"You know, I do believe Draco Malfoy is turning soft," Hermione said playfully. "Not even a year ago you were constantly calling me 'mudbl–"

"Don't," Draco told her sternly.

She snapped her mouth shut, nodding. She moved her hands down his arms until she reached his hands, which were still firmly attached to her hips. She gently pried each one off herself and laced her fingers with his, smiling as he looked down at their conjoined hands and sighed happily.

"Does Potter suspect anything?" he asked abruptly.

"Oh... um, no, I don't think so. When he asked me what you wanted, I just told him that you probably wanted homework answers or something."

Draco nodded slowly, taking everything in, a far-off look on his face. "You know Weasley likes you, right?" he added, smirking at the look of surprise that overcame her features as he relayed that piece of information to her.

"_What_?! How do you know? Did he tell you that?"

Draco chuckled softly. "No, he didn't _tell _me. I doubt he's told anyone. But anyone with eyes can see it just by the way he looks at you."

"But he has Lavender..." she replied slowly. He shrugged.

"You can't help who you love."

Hermione looked up at Draco, a small, slightly giddy smile overtaking her features. "What?" he asked, smirking. She tilted her head down slowly, staring at their joined hands. "Nothing," she mumbled softly. Draco shook his head, rolling his eyes playfully. He leaned down and kissed her neck, right below her ear. "Don't make me say it. It'll ruin my bad boy image," he whispered jokingly in her ear. She giggled softly, glancing up at him with big brown doe eyes.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," she replied sweetly.

Draco chuckled softly before tilting her chin up and kissing her, his hands separating from hers and wrapping around the small of her back. Hermione placed a hand on each of his cheeks, stroking them gently with her thumbs while pulling his closer. Pulling back from the kiss, Draco smiled slightly, resting his forehead against hers.

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too," Hermione said playfully, smiling at the smirk that crossed his features. "Softy."

He exhaled sharply, feigning irritability, but she just laughed good-naturedly at him. "What time is it?" he asked, in desperate need of a subject change.

She glanced at her watch and frowned slightly. "Lunch is over in five minutes."

"I guess we gotta leave soon," Draco muttered, sighing softly.

"Yeah... but we have Defense Against the Dark Arts next, so at least we'll still get to see each other, right?"

Draco nodded silently, staring blankly at a telescope, lost in thought. "It's not the same thing though," he said suddenly. "I always have to call you 'mudblood' or 'Granger' whenever we're around people."

"But it's amusing, for me at least, because I know it's all an act," she replied, trying to lighten the mood. "And _I _know you're kidding, so it's no big deal."

"It is to me," Draco mumbled grumpily. He sighed heavily, grabbing Hermione's left wrist and twisting it gently to look at the time. "We'd better get going. Don't wanna be late to Snape's class."

"For some reason, I don't think _you_, of all people, have to worry about getting him angry," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"But _you _do."

"Don't worry about me."

Draco chuckled softly before grabbing her hand and leading her towards the door. "You go first. I'll wait a few minutes, then head to class. Like you said, he doesn't care if I'm late."

"Alright," she said happily. "I'll see you in a bit." Hermione leaned in and kissed Draco softly, pulling back begrudgingly after a few moments and walking through the door.

By the time she arrived in class, more than half the students were already there, including Harry and Ron.

"What took you so long? Another minute and our house could've lost 20 points for you being late!" Ron exclaimed angrily.

"I told you, I was studying," she replied as they all took there seats when Snape walked in.

"Good afternoon, class. Take out your homework and turn your books to- Ah. Mister Malfoy. Wonderful of you to grace us with your presence." Snape sneered.

Malfoy smirked and strutted across the classroom to his seat, stealing a quick glance at Hermione. She smiled slightly, biting her bottom lip, and she looked down at her book to keep anyone from noticing. Harry leaned into her to whisper in her ear. "Stop blushing before everyone figures it out."

Hermione's mouth dropped slightly and she looked at Harry in shock. He just grinned. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." He turned his head back to his book, busying himself by flipping through the pages like nothing happened.

Hermione just smiled.

**xxx**

**R&R, please and thank you. :D**


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